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Dessert

Date, Ginger and Nut Candy

A candy of pitted dates stuffed with candied ginger, nuts, and fondant, rolled in coarse sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Date, Ginger and Nut Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Remove pits from the dates.

  2. Chop equal measures of candied ginger, hickory nuts, pecans, or almonds.

  3. Mix the chopped ingredients with enough fondant to hold together.

Assemble and coat

  1. Fill the open space of the dates with the mixture.

  2. Press the dates together and roll them in coarse granulated sugar.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Dates + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together985 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Dates + gingertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together75 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fondant
Binds the chopped ginger and nuts together so the filling holds its shape inside the dates.
Candied ginger
Adds sweet, spicy aroma and a chewy bite to the filling.
Nuts
Add crunch and a toasted, rich flavour that contrasts with the soft dates.
Dates
Provide the soft, sticky sweet body that holds the filling.

The step that matters

Press the dates together. Pressing the halves firmly closes the filling inside, so it does not leak or fall out while the candy is rolled in sugar and handled.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, sugar):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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